1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for performing a plug and play function, a digital A/V system using the same and a method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A user may ascertain devices connected to a digital image processing system through a menu displayed on a display of the digital image processing system, and the user is also allowed to control the connected devices through the displayed menu to perform a predetermined function of the connected devices. For example, a user may reproduce a MPEG1 layer 3 (MP3) music data or a joint photographic coding experts group (JPEG) picture data stored in a memory card through a digital TV.
Operations of the digital image processing system to reproduce a picture data stored in a memory card using an external device connecting device will be described using a digital television as an example of the digital image processing system with reference to accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a digital television having an external device connecting device according to the related art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the digital television having the external device connecting device according to the related art includes an analog input processing unit 130, a digital input processing unit 150, a stream controller 170, an external interfacing unit 190, an output signal processing unit 180, a system controller 110, a storing unit 120 and a user interfacing unit 111.
The analog input processing unit 130 includes a national television system committee (NTSC) decoder 131 and an MPEG encoder 132. The analog input processing unit 130 receives an analog signal, converts the received analog signal to a high-quality audio/video (A/V) digital data stream and outputs the A/V digital data stream.
The digital input processing unit 150 includes a tuner 151 and a vestigial side band (VSB) demodulator 152. The digital input processing unit 150 receives a digital signal, demodulates the digital signal to high-quality A/V digital data stream and outputs the A/V digital data stream.
The stream controller 170 selective outputs the A/V digital data streams from the analog input processing unit 130 and the digital input processing unit 150 in response to a system controller 110.
The external interfacing unit 190 connects an external device storing multimedia data, i.e., music, picture and moving image, to the digital television using a proper interface.
The output signal processing unit 180 includes a transport stream (TS) DEMUX 180, an MPEG decoder and a graphic processing unit 182. The output signal processing unit 180 processes the output signal of the stream controller 170 and outputs an analog A/V signal.
The system controller 110 generally controls the constitutional elements of the digital television having the external device connecting device according to a user's command inputted through the user interface 111 to process signals inputted from the digital television having the external device connecting device, to display an image and to perform functions such as recording images into the storing unit 120 or reproducing images stored in the storing unit 120.
Hereinafter, a procedure of reproducing picture data stored in a memory card using a digital television having an external device connecting device according to the related art will be described.
At first, a memory card storing picture data is connected to the digital television through the external interfacing unit 190 to reproduce the picture data stored in the memory card through the digital television while a user is watching a TV program.
The user displays a menu of the digital television through the user interface 111 to control modes of the digital television.
The system controller 110 reads the stored data from the memory card through the external interfacing unit 190 and stores the read data in the storing unit 120 or outputs the read data on a display after processing the read data through the output signal processing unit 180 according to a user's command inputted through the displayed menu.
Generally, a user connects an external device to a digital image processing system to use a predetermined function of the external device. However, the related art digital image processing system allows the user to use the target function of the external device only through a preprocess operation such as displaying a menu and selecting a target function among displayed menus.
Since a user generally are not familiar with such an controlling mechanism of external devices provided from the digital television, the user needs to learn how to control the digital television to normally perform a target function of the connected external device. While the user learns to control the digital television through trial and error, the user general makes mistakes to control the external device. Such a mistake may delete valuable information stored in the external device. According to the difficulties of controlling the digital television, a user seldom uses the functions of the digital television to control the external device.